Hanoi, Jul 17 (IANS): The Vietnamese economy is forecast to grow at 6.3 per cent in 2024 and 6.5 per cent in 2025, said the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office in its latest update.

The growth rate for 2024 is 0.3 percentage points higher than the 6 per cent forecast in April and is the highest among ASEAN countries for 2024, Vietnam News Agency reported Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the 2025 forecast has been maintained, Xinhua news agency reported.

The office's chief economist Hoe Ee Khor noted that Vietnam was hit hard last year by the downturn in external demand, but is expected to benefit from a turnaround in external demand this year.

"This is going to be a very strong growth year for Vietnam. The country is one of those highly open economies that benefit greatly from trade," he said.

In its latest Asian development outlook, the Asian Development Bank projected Vietnam's economic growth at 6.2 per cent, higher than the projection of 6 per cent the bank made in April.

Meanwhile, the country's Ministry of Planning and Investment said Vietnam's economy could beat all the forecasts to expand at 7 per cent for the full year with a growth rate of 7.4 per cent and 7.6 per cent in the two last quarters, respectively.

Vietnam's economy was reported to have grown by 6.93 per cent in the second quarter and 6.42 per cent in the first six months of 2024, according to the General Statistics Office.